Every week in October, we give you at least one Halloween related post whether it be the Music Video Of The Week or Single Of The Week. What we have right here is a little different than what we usually do, but it’s your Halloween related music video of the week. There have been tribute bands for as long as I can remember, but there have never been any like Mac Sabbath,a band that combines fast food culture with Black Sabbath music. The band parodies McDonald’s characters in a way that would make GWAR very proud with amazing costumes. The band is made up of Ronald Osbourne (parody of Ronald McDonald and Ozzy Osbourne) on vocals, Slayer MacCheeze (Its Motorhead meets Mayor McCheese) on guitar, Grimalice (Alice Cooper meets Grimace) on Bass, and the Catburglar (Peter Criss meets the Hamburglar) on drums. We grabbed a live video from Consequence of Sound‘s Youtube page for the band’s track Organic Funeral which is a parody of Black Sabbath’s Electric Funeral. The music is awesome and the lyrics are even better so I have to give the guys kudos for the lyrics. You definitely need to check these guys out as they head out on tour. I will have the tour dates for you guys below, but for now check out the video and check them out on Facebook as well.

This week’s choice for album of the week is probably a poor choice in most of the minds of most Kiss fans, but Kiss’s seventh studio album Dynasty is my favorite record. It has a sentimental place in my heart as it was the first Kiss record that made me fall in love with the band seeing their painted faces on the cover. It’s also the first time that the whole band did not play collectively on a Kiss record. There are some tracks on the record that do not feature the original lineup all together. For one, Peter Criss is only one one track while for most of the album it’s Paul Stanley (Vocals/Guitars), Gene Simmons (Bass/Vocals), Ace Frehley (Guitars/Vocals), and Anton Fig (Drums). Producer Vini Poncia apparently did not like Peter Criss’s playing during the sessions so Fig was brought in. Paul Stanley reflects saying, “On Dynasty, Peter was pretty much out of commission, so I wouldn’t point to it as a classic Kiss album.” As far as success of the album goes, it definitely brought Kiss back to the top as it peaked at number nine on the Billboard Top 200 charts (it stayed on the charts for 25 weeks) and the album went platinum.

1. I Was Made For Loving You– My favorite Kiss song of all time and coincidentally the one track every accuses of being too Disco like. It was the band’s second Gold Single in their history and a great live staple. 5/5

2. 2,000 Man– Ace showing his love for rock and roll and The Rolling Stones with this cover. Ace performs every instrument on the track expect Drums. 4.5/5

4. Dirty Livin– The only track on the album that features Peter Criss on drums and vocals on the track and it’s actually a really good rock track with a cool bass riff. 4/5

5. Charisma– One of two tracks on the album that Gene Simmons sings on and this one is a charging, driving track, but I’m not a fan of his vocals on this one. 3/5

6. Magic Touch– Obviously a track about a woman who is very good sexually. Paul’s vocals are amazing as usual on this very Paul Stanley-esque Kiss track. What I mean by that is you can tell Paul wrote the song. 4/5

7. Hard Times– A driving rock anthem by the spaceman Ace Frehley about growing up in the rough streets of New York. 4/5

8. X-Ray Eyes– The other Gene Simmons track which is rocking and his vocals are a lot better than the last track he sang on and it’s a track that focuses on seeing through the lies and all the troubles in relationships. 4/5

9. Save Your Love– The third Frehley track on the album and the last song on the album and not one of the best. It has a cool rock riff, but the lyrics are OK. 3/5

My Final Thoughts– Despite a couple of tracks on the record, it is still one of my favorite Kiss records ever. It was a rough era for Kiss at this point as Peter Criss would eventually exit the band and then Ace Frehley would follow eventually. The album has some highlights to it and is definitely under appreciated. Check it out for yourself, I am giving the album four stars out of five for a final grade.

Last week, Kiss was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and to honor that I have decided to review a Kiss album for the album of the week. What better of a choice to review than the one that started it all for the band that would go on one hell of a rollercoaster ride to the top. The album was released on February 18, 1974 via Casablanca Records which means it’s celebrating it’s 40TH anniversary this year. Even though it’s Paul Stanley (Vocals, Guitar), Gene Simmons (Bass, Vocals), Ace Frehley (Guitar), and Peter Criss (Drums) first album together, most of the songs were already written when Paul and Gene were in Wicked Lester. The album was produced by Kenny Kerner and Richie Wise and Gene claims that the album took three weeks to record and mix while Wise says that it only took 13 days. Since the band has stated on numerous occasions that The Beatles were a huge inspiration, they modeled their album cover after With The Beatles album. The album peaked at number 87 on the Billboard Pop charts while the album was certified Gold based on having shipped 500,000 copies to stores (that is how they figured out how many albums you sold before the Soundscan era).

The Makeup Schemes

The iconic drum fill from the uptempo rock classic Strutter opens up the record and it also a track that was written before Ace joined the group. In fact, Paul Stanley wrote the track based on a song Gene had written before in a different band. If you want to get strange for a second, the next track Nothin’ To Lose is a track about a boyfriend trying to coercing his girlfriend into anal sex only to discover that she really enjoys it. Firehouse is the next track on the record and it was a track that Paul Stanley wrote in high school while listening to The Move’s Fire Brigade. Cold Gin is one of the most iconic tracks that Ace Frehley wrote that he never sang. Ace was insecure about his vocal abilities so he gave the song away for Gene to sing. The track is about how cold gin can keep men sexually active. Let Me Know is the track that Paul Stanley wrote and played when he first met Gene Simmons and it’s a track where both Gene and Paul share vocal duties and it has a bridge and a instrumental Coda. Kissin Time is Kiss’s cover of a Bobby Rydell song. The song wasn’t on the original pressing of the record, but it was rather recorded later on by request of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart. Bogart had recognized that the original release of the record was not a commercial success as he had hoped so he figured f the band covered this catchy tune, it would help raise sales which it did.

When Gene Simmons recorded Deuce, he says he simply copied the bass line from The Rolling Stones track Bitch and played it backwards. Ace has stated his love for Deuce in the past and why when he said, “they said, ‘We’re going to play you a song for you to listen to, and then try playing along — it’s in the key of ‘A’. They played [“Deuce”] as a three-piece. I thought, ‘That’s easy enough,’ so I got up and wailed for four minutes playing lead work over it.” Love Theme From Kiss is a shortened instrumental version of a Wicked Lester track Acrobat. 100,000 Years starts with a bass riff by Gene before the rest of the band comes in with the bluesy heavy rock riffs. It’s my least favorite Kiss song ever. Black Diamond is the greatest Kiss song ever!!! The song starts with Paul singing the first verse which is accompanied by a 12 string acoustic guitar arrangement and when he finally yells “Hit It”, the band explodes onto your speakers and Peter Criss takes over on vocals. As I stated above, this is the album that started it all for Kiss and I am so proud that they were able to look past their differences for the rock hall induction in Brooklyn last week. They are definitely one of the greatest hard rock groups of all time. I am going to give the album 4.3 stars out of five for a final grade.